MS Dhoni picks up stake in sports-tech startup Run Adam

Indian cricketer Mahendra Singh Dhoni has picked up a 25% stake in Chennai-based sports-tech startup Run Adam.

As part of the deal, Dhoni has invested an undisclosed amount in the company and will serve as a mentor and brand ambassador, Run Adam co-founder K Yeragaselvan told VCCircle.

Owned and operated by Run Adam Sports Pvt. Ltd, the platform integrates data, enables access and facilitates communication to bring together different stakeholders in the sports ecosystem under one roof.

It primarily helps aspiring athletes connect with professionals, coaches, sponsors and other specialists.

Additionally, the platform also aggregates sports associations, institutions, event creators, venue providers, teams and clubs, corporates and more on a single forum.

Run Adam was founded by Yeragaselvan and Mothakaladharan Soundarapandian. The duo also run another sports venture named Golden Goose Sports.

Yeragaselvan said Run Adam had raised a seed round of funding last year from a group of angel investors, but declined to divulge further details. He said the firm has been working closely with Dhoni for about a year now.

The capital from the seed round and Dhoni’s investment have been used primarily for developing the platform besides spending on user acquisition that involves sports event sponsorships, he added.

Other funded startups in the space include Sports365.in, SportzVillage, OyePlay, and Bookmysports.

Meanwhile, Dhoni is not the first cricketer to invest in startups. Based on data gleaned from media reports and VCCEdge, the research arm of News Corp VCCircle, at least eight present and former cricketers have put money into startups and other companies. These include Virat Kohli, Umesh Yadav, Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly, Yuvraj Singh.